WASHINGTON, April 26 &#8212; George J. Tenet, the former director of central intelligence, has lashed out against Vice President Dick Cheney and other Bush administration officials in a new book, saying they pushed the country to war in Iraq without ever conducting a &#8220;serious debate&#8221; about whether Saddam Hussein posed an imminent threat to the United States.

The 549-page book, &#8220;At the Center of the Storm,&#8221; is to be published by HarperCollins on Monday. By turns accusatory, defensive, and modestly self-critical, it is the first detailed account by a member of the president&#8217;s inner circle of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the decision to invade Iraq and the failure to find the unconventional weapons that were a major justification for the war.

&#8220;There was never a serious debate that I know of within the administration about the imminence of the Iraqi threat,&#8221; Mr. Tenet writes in a devastating judgment that is likely to be debated for many years. Nor, he adds, &#8220;was there ever a significant discussion&#8221; about the possibility of containing Iraq without an invasion.

Mr. Tenet admits that he made his famous &#8220;slam dunk&#8221; remark about the evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. But he argues that the quote was taken out of context and that it had little impact on President Bush&#8217;s decision to go to war. He also makes clear his bitter view that the administration made him a scapegoat for the Iraq war.

A copy of the book was purchased at retail price in advance of publication by a reporter for The New York Times. Mr. Tenet described with sarcasm watching an episode of &#8220;Meet the Press&#8221; last September in which Mr. Cheney twice referred to Mr. Tenet&#8217;s &#8220;slam dunk&#8221; remark as the basis for the decision to go to war.

&#8220;I remember watching and thinking, &#8216;As if you needed me to say &#8216;slam dunk&#8217; to convince you to go to war with Iraq,&#8217; &#8221; Mr. Tenet writes.

As violence in Iraq spiraled beginning in late 2003, Mr. Tenet writes, &#8220;rather than acknowledge responsibility, the administration&#8217;s message was: Don&#8217;t blame us. George Tenet and the C.I.A. got us into this mess.&#8221;

Mr. Tenet takes blame for the flawed 2002 National Intelligence Estimate about Iraq&#8217;s weapons programs, calling the episode &#8220;one of the lowest moments of my seven-year tenure.&#8221; He expresses regret that the document was not more nuanced, but says there was no doubt in his mind at the time that Saddam Hussein possessed unconventional weapons. &#8220;In retrospect, we got it wrong partly because the truth was so implausible,&#8221; he writes.

Despite such sweeping indictments, Mr. Bush, who in 2004 awarded Mr. Tenet a Presidential Medal of Freedom, is portrayed personally in a largely positive light, with particular praise for the his leadership after the 2001 attacks. &#8220;He was absolutely in charge, determined, and directed,&#8221; Mr. Tenet writes of the president, whom he describes as a blunt-spoken kindred spirit.

But Mr. Tenet largely endorses the view of administration critics that Mr. Cheney and a handful of Pentagon officials, including Paul D. Wolfowitz and Douglas J. Feith, were focused on Iraq as a threat in late 2001 and 2002 even as Mr. Tenet and the C.I.A. concentrated mostly on Al Qaeda.............

...............He gives a detailed account of the episode, which occurred during an Oval Office meeting in December 2002 when the administration was preparing to make public its case for war against Iraq.

During the meeting, the deputy C.I.A. director, John McLaughlin, unveiled a draft of a proposed public presentation that left the group unimpressed. Mr. Tenet recalls that Mr. Bush suggested that they could &#8220;add punch&#8221; by bringing in lawyers trained to argue cases before a jury.

&#8220;I told the president that strengthening the public presentation was a &#8216;slam dunk,&#8217; a phrase that was later taken completely out of context,&#8221; Mr. Tenet writes. &#8220;If I had simply said, &#8216;I&#8217;m sure we can do better,&#8217; I wouldn&#8217;t be writing this chapter &#8212; or maybe even this book.&#8221;................

Yup, I can sure see how the comment that WMD's were a "slam Dunk" could be taken out of context. No axe to grind here. And I suggest you review who it was that appointed him to begin with.

Another example of taking a minor issue and trying to make it into some earth shattering event. Last I checked the President is free to use or not use his advisors as much or as little as he wants. he is free to include or exclude them in any discussion he wants.

What would be more telling is if the press discussed the fact that 44 members of Congress didn't even bother to review the intel before voting on war or no war. Either they are admitting they were absolutely derilect in their duties OR it is an attempt to claim they were hoodwinked by their own stupidity. Would appear they wouldn't know if they were lied to or not since they didn't even read what was available to them.

Yup, I can sure see how the comment that WMD's were a "slam Dunk" could be taken out of context. No axe to grind here. And I suggest you review who it was that appointed him to begin with.

Another example of taking a minor issue and trying to make it into some earth shattering event. Last I checked the President is free to use or not use his advisors as much or as little as he wants. he is free to include or exclude them in any discussion he wants.

What would be more telling is if the press discussed the fact that 44 members of Congress didn't even bother to review the intel before voting on war or no war. Either they are admitting they were absolutely derilect in their duties OR it is an attempt to claim they were hoodwinked by their own stupidity. Would appear they wouldn't know if they were lied to or not since they didn't even read what was available to them.

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